A variety of different types of lawnmowers are known in the art for mowing grass on residential and business lawns. One of the most common types of lawnmowers includes a gas-powered or electric-powered engine which is mounted on a mower housing and drives a blade or blades inside the mower housing. A mower handle extends from the mower housing to enable a user to push the mower on the lawn as the rotating blade cuts the grass.
On some types of mowers, a hand-actuated propulsion handle is provided on the mower handle to facilitate self-propulsion of the mower. Still another common type of lawnmower is the riding lawnmower which is characterized by a mower housing fitted with pneumatic wheels and a seat with propulsion controls mounted on the mower housing. A user sits on the seat and drives the mower forward or backwards to cut grass on a lawn.
Conventional push-type, self-propelled and riding lawnmowers suffer from the disadvantage of requiring an operator to maintain direct control over the mowing and propulsion functions of the mower. This often requires that the mower operator stand or sit for long periods of time in the sun on hot days. Furthermore, the cut grass clippings are either blown from the mower housing onto the yard as mulch or collected in a collection bag which is removably attached to the lawnmower and must be emptied after the mowing operation. Therefore, an automated lawn cutting and vacuum system having an automatic lawnmower is needed to facilitate the automatic cutting of a lawn as well as the automatic removal of grass clippings from the lawnmower after a mowing operation.